Apparatus for slitting and cutting conductors



.4 Shgets-Sheei 1 U s S N m N M m m r A N r N R E S T Mm m M a A Ne H M /.T. M O C W P 0 0 R e j Y 4. v IQQ 5 An g 4? Q y 1943 w. T. BARRANS ETAL APPARATUS FOR SLITTING AND CUTTING CONDUCTDRS Filed Sept. 24, 1940 y 1943 v w. T.'BARRANS ETAL 2,319,198

I APPARATUS FOR SLITTING AND CUTTING CONDUCTORS Filed Sept. 24, 1940 4 Sheets-She et 2 IN V/V TOPS w. T. BARRA/VS R 44,001.15 0.0. HANNAH 0. ako'asolv 5r A TTORNEV w. T. BARRANS EIAL I 2,319,198

APPARATUS FQR SLITTING AND CUTTING CONDUCTORS May 18, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS W. T. BARRANS P. M. COLE Filed Sept. 24, 1940 Q 3 mm 0.0. HANNAN D. C.ROB$0N BY A T TORNEY May 18, 1943 w. 'r. BARRANS ETAL APPARATUS FQR SLITTING AND CUTTING CONDUC'IEQRS Fiiied Sept. 24, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet l/Vl/ENTOAS W. T. BARRANS R M. COLE 0.0.HANNAN 0. a. POBSON A r TORNEY of Fig. 1;

' tor longitudinally slit as ing the conductor in two; and

Patented 185 19}? V I UNITED f .IsTAT E S PAT EN T OFFICE.

'Meadv'llle, Pa fa-nd I);I

' Robson, Baltimore, "Electric Company,

- N. Y a'oorporation or 24, 1940, Serial 4'9 cla ms (01. 154-7-61) Application September 7 This invention'relates tonan ting and cutting conductors and moreparticularly to an apparatus for cutting conductorsto predetermined length and slitting-the insulation at the ends to facilitate removingfthe insulation y from the ends.

In connecting a conductor to an electrical terminal the insulation must end of the conductor. V

- An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for effectively cutting conductors and slitting the insulation adjacent the cut ends.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

In accordance with one embodiment of the, in-

vention an apparatus is provided for slitting the insulation on a'length' of conductor making-a deeper cut in the middle of the slit length and a then cutting the conductor at the middle point of the deep cutto provide two ends of conductors in which the insulation is slit-longitudinally at the ends and having a deep cut adjacent each end.

apparatus for 1 slit be-removed from the i through which the 'pulleys l4 and ii n 0; Hannanand Duer- C.

assignors'to Western Incorporated, New York, .1 New York V housing fun has a pulley 24 mounted thereon apparatus is driven. From the a the conductor passes into a short tube 2.5 guiding theconductor to'a flying cutter 26.f The slitting of the insulation on the conductors is accomplish'e'd by a pair of disk cutters 2 1 and 28 mounted'onpairs of arms 28 and SI respectively. The disk'cutters 21 and 28 do not A completeunderstanding of the invention may 7 be had by reference to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatusembodying the invention; I a 1 Fig. 2 is a'sectional plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; v

Fig; 31s a vertical section taken on line 3-4 of Fig. 2; 1 I

Fig. 4 is avertic section taken on line 4-4 Fig. 5 is a detailview of a portion of a conducit appears prior to sever- Referring now more in detail to the drawings shown Fig. 1 showsa housing H to which a bracket {2 is attached carrying a. tube l3 through which the conductor to be slit and cut is passed from left to right. The forward end of tube It istapered as shown in Fig; l and leads the conductor. between twoadvancing pulleys I4 and H, which are grooved to engage the conductor and hold it firmly in position while advancing the conductor 'forwardly through the machine. The pulley i5 is mounted on a shaft l6 having a gear I! at its opposite end meshing with a gear IS on shaft l9 which carries the pulley l4. has a bevelled gear 2i mounted thereon meshing The'shaft l9 also and 33 respectively,

[upon a cam 42.

earn arm 43 mounted thereon the roller cam at .thewend of which rides up'on'a cam 44. The cam rotate since it has been foundgthatthedepth of a cutting can be better.controlled if the disks are "stationary and they are made. in disk form only to permit a slight rotation of the disks when a portion of the cutting edges has become dull. The arms 29 and 3| are loosely mounted on shafts which are journalled in bearings 34 and .35 mounted on the housing of the apparatus. Secured to each of the shafts 32 and 33 is a bell crank shaped arm 2|! carrying a bolt 30 having a transverse portion securedto arm: 2! and '3! respectively.- By adjusting the nuts on bolts the spacing of the cutting disks can be adjusted relative to the conductor. ,Within'the housing the shaft 32 has a cam arm 4| mounted thereon the roller cam at the end of which rides Similarly the shaft 33 has a arms 4| and 43 are held in engagement with their respective cams by a spring which has a tendency 'to' withdraw the cutting knives 21 and 28 from the conductor. Cams 42 and 44 are mounted upon a shaft 45 and are driven through a gear 41 mounted thereon. The gear 41 meshes with a gear 48 which meshes with a gear 49 on the main shaft 23. The gear 48 is an idler gear and is rotatably mounted on a shaft 4| secured to a segmental plate]! which pivots about the main shaft 23. The plate 52 has an arcuate slot 53 therein and is normally held in'ilxed position by a bolt 54 in a central wall of the housing. Thus the gear 48 may be interchanged for gears of different size to vary the length of cords being out.

When a cord is being drawn through the'apparatus by the pulleys l4 and IS the cam arms 4i 45.

. smallest diameter. The cams 42 and 4 4 as viewed and 43 first engage their respective cams at their in Fig. 3 rotate in a clockwise direction and when the raised portionstl and 62 of the leading edges of the raised portions of the cam come in contact with the rollers. on the cam arms, the cutting disks 21' and 28 engage the insulation on the conductor which is firmly held in place by the pulleys I 4 and I5 cutting a longitudinal slit therein which does not completely penetrate the insulation to be removed.

In order to time the cutting action of. theflying cutter so that it will cut in the middle of the deep part of the slit of the conductorthe cam I 04 may "be adjusted circumferentially of the shaft 46 by means of bolts. I'll set in a disk mounted on shaft 46. By reason of the arcuate slots. I I2 the cam I04 may be rotated to adjust .its high point and thenclamped'to the disk on 'the shaft bytightening up the nuts on the bolts manner the cam rollers come in contact with the high portion 65 and 50 of their respective cams I causing the cutting disks to move closer to the conductor and completely cut through the insulation to be removed. If the cutting disks at this time should cut into the individual insulation of the conductors in-the outer insulating sheath it will do no harm because this will be immediately adJacent the ends of the conductor after the conductor is cut' atthe mid-point of the deepest slit. Upon further rotation of cams 42 and the cam rollers again come in contact with a lower portion of the cam cutting a further slit of a depth not entirely through the outer insulation and upon still further rotation of the cam the cam rollers will again come incontact with the smallest diameter portion of the cam at which time the cutting disks will be out of contact with the conductor. The slit conductor now continues through the tube 25 between the cutters of the flying cutter 20 which moves with the conductor and cuts the conductor during movement thereof. Th flying cutter comprises an arm II having a fixed cutting blade I2 mounted thereon and a sliding cutting blade I! positioned between a flat portion of the arm and a plate 14. The arm II is mounted on a shaft II having cam arms 16 thereon within the housing. These arms carry a cam roller II which rides upon a cam 18. It will be noted that for each rotation of the cam I4 the arm Ii of the flying cutter will oscillate in a forward and backward movement. .The cam I8 is rotatably mounted upon a shaft 8| driven by means of a gear 02 mounted on a shaft and meshing with a gear 02 on the main shaft 23. The shaft 8| therefore rotates continuously. However, the cam II will rotate only when clutched to the cam by a clutch 04. A portion of this clutch comprises a disk 9i having a notch in its periphery which may be engaged by a hook on the end of' an arm 02 on a shaft 03. When the hook on the end of arm 02 engages the notch in the disk SI of the clutch the cam I8 will be disengaged from the shaft and will not rotate therewith. Clutches of this type are well known on the market and a detailed description of the clutch will therefore not be given herein. In order to engage the clutch so that the cam" will rotate with shaft the shaft 93 is rotated clockwise as viewed in Fig. 3 by an arm 94 on the same shaft. This arm is actuated by a rod 95 the opposite end of which is connected to a lever 96 pivoted at 91. The rod 95 is adjustable in length and is urged constantly to the left as viewed in Fig. 3 by a spring 90 resting at one end against a ring 99 secured to the rod and at its opposite end on a support IOI secured to the housing. The lower end of lever 90 carries a cam roller I03 which rides upon a cam I04 on the same shaft 46 which carries cams 42 and 44. When the high point of the cam I04 engages the cam roller I03 the hook on the end of arm 92 will be disengaged from the clutch disk 0| allowing the clutch to engage III. When the arm II of the flying cutter moves forwardly or clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1, the .upper cutting'blade I0 is moveddownwardly by an arm II mounted on aneccentric pin III.

The eccentric .pin is located on 'the end of a shaft II'I driven by'a sprocket wheel Hi from a' chain engaging a sprocket wheel H0 on a1 sleeve I20 integral with the cam .10.. Thus the shaftlil will be driven only when the cam 10 is driven to operate the flying cutter. The eccentric pin flli is so disposed on'the shaft II? that during the forward movement of the flying cutter the eccentric pinwill be in its lower position causing the cutting blade "to cutthe conductor. However upon the reverse movement of the arm the eccentric pin will'be in its upper position so that the cutting blade II will not again out the conductor on the return movement of arm II. The arm II is held in its normal inoperative position by a spring III.

In the operation of the apparatus a conductor is advanced through the apparatus by the pulleys I4 andllwhereuponthe cutting disks 21 and at a predetermined time out a shallow siit on I32 into the outer insulation of the covering. Upon further advance of the cord the cutting disks move in and cut a deeper slit I03 into the conductor and upon'still further advance of the conductor another shallow slit I34 is cut into the conductor. Then as the conductor advances between the flying cutter 20 the cutting operation is so timed as to cut the conductor at the midpoint of the deep slit as'shown in Fig. 6. In order to remove the outer insulation from an end of the conductoras shown in Fig; 6; the completely severed ends of the insulation may be grasped by hand and with a slight pull fthe insulation will separate readily'to the end of the shallow slit where the, insulation may be then completely removed by any well known means. The apparatus therefore will cut measured lengths of a conductor and prepare the ends for ready removal of the insulation. 7

It will be understood that the nature and embodiment of the invention herein discloud are merely illustrative and that, many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means 7 for advancing the material, means for intermittently slitting a length of the covering while it is being advanced, and means for severing the covered strand at a point where the covering was slit while said strand is being advanced through the slitting means.

2. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means for advancing the material, means for intermittently cutting a slit in the covering which is deeper at one point than at another while the material is being advanced, and means for severing the coveredstrand at a point having a deep out while the material is being advanced through the first mentioned and drive cam II to operate the flying cutter28. (0 cutting means.

3. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means for advancing said strand, 9. cut-' ting device for slitting a length of the covering, and actuating mechanism for said cutting device including a cam for advancing the cutting device to ard said covering to cut a slit therein of predet rmined length and depth.

- point where the covering is slit.

5. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means for advancing said strand, a cutting device'for slitting a length of the covering,

actuating mechanism for said cutting device including a cam for advancing the cutting device toward said covering to cut a slit therein of predetermined length and depth, a movable cutter for severing the advancing strand, and means for actuating'said cutter including a clutch operable to actuate the cutter to sever the strand at a point where the covering is slit. I

6. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means for longitudinally cutting said covering, means for transversely severing said strand, means for advancing the strand, and a pair of cams, one of said cams being effective to control the operation of said longitudinal cut- 7 ting means, and theother oi said cams being effectiveto control the operation of said transverse severing means.

7. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means for advancing the vmaterial, means for intermittently slitting a length oi. the covering longitudinally, and cutting means operated in synchronism with said slitting means .comprising a pair of arms pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the material, cutting means positioned on one of said arms, and means for actuating said. cutting means inorder to sever the material.

8. In an apparatus for working covered strand material, means for advancing said strand, a

cutting device for longitudinally slitting a length of the covering comprising a plurality of cutting means pivotally mounted on opposite sides oi! the path of the material, and cam means for advancing the cutting device a predetermined distance toward said covering to cut a slit therein of predetermined length and depth.

9. In an apparatus forworking covered strand material means for cutting the covering longi- 'tudinally, means for cutting the covered strand material transversely, and means positively driven by said longitudinal cutting means for actuating said transverse cutting means at predetermined intervals in synchronism with said longitudinal cutting means in order to sever predetermined lengths 

